Aerial of former Dowling College campus in Shirley / Photo courtesy of A&G Realty Partners and Madison Hawk Partners

IDA to assist redevelopment of Dowling’s Shirley campus

By: David Winzelberg September 25, 2018Comments Off on IDA to assist redevelopment of Dowling’s Shirley campus

The Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency has closed on a package of economic incentives for the new owner of the former Dowling College campus in Shirley.

Triple Five Aviation Industries, a subsidiary of Edmonton, Alberta-based Triple Five Worldwide Group, closed on its $14 million purchase of the 105-acre property next to the Brookhaven Calabro Airport last week.

The site includes a 70,645-square-foot, 70-room dormitory; an athletic complex; and a 65,000-square-foot office/classroom complex which also features an airplane hangar.

The Triple Five group entered into the negotiations for the Shirley property after a Jan. 31 bankruptcy auction failed to produce a qualified bid with the proper creditor support, according to court papers. The January bids topped out at a little more than $10 million. Dowling filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016.

Triple Five said in its IDA application that it is hoping to attract corporate research and development firms, educational aviation institutions, material science training programs and recreational users to the Shirley property, employing as many as 50 people there within two years, according to an IDA statement.

The company plans to spend $2 million in upgrades to the property.

Stuart Bienenstock / Photo by Judy Walker

“Our goal for the site is an industry-university research and development center for advanced transportation technology and propel the Long Island eco-system and the William Floyd corridor to a leadership position in advanced technology, similar to Silicon Valley,” Stuart Bienstock, director of business development for Triple Five, said in the statement.

Though Triple Five owns a helicopter charter company in Danbury, Conn., aviation-related development is a departure from the firm’s core business, which has focused on retail and entertainment properties. The company operates the giant Mall of America in Minneapolis and Bienenstock told LIBN in June that Triple Five recently invested $538 million in its American Dream mall project at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J., which is slated to open next spring.

Triple Five is also a majority partner of an entity that has been in negotiations to pay $40 million for 1,643 acres at the Enterprise Park in Calverton from the Town of Riverhead, where it wants to create a larger-scale, aviation-centric industrial complex similar to its plan for the former Dowling site.